What was a big surprise was the return of Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, considering the character won't even have been born yet during the events that will be chronicled in the pair of movies and the fact that Frodo doesn't appear in The Hobbit book written by J.R.R. Tolkien. But, it's not just the fans who are surprised to see Frodo returning. In a recent interview with IGN, Wood revealed that he never thought he would play the character again.

No, we thought we were finished and the character doesn't even exist in [the book of] The Hobbit, so it was not even a pipe dream to imagine the possibility would be there for me to reprise the role of Frodo. But they've come up with something that I think is kind of interesting and I think very fitting that doesn't necessarily infringe upon the integrity of the original novel. It's great. I'm really excited.

Those films marked a huge, massive experience in my life. It's been 11 years, basically, since I went to New Zealand, so it'll be a beautiful reunion and I'm just excited to go back and see everybody again.

Wood did not go into detail about the "fitting" way in which Frodo will be inserted into The Hobbit, but admitted that he is not likely to get much screen time.

The Hobbit screenplays were written by Jackson, Guillermo del Toro, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. The movies will chronicle the adventures of Hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) as he leaves the comfort of his home in the Shire to "burgle" from the dragon Smaug for a company of dwarves. It is on this quest that Bilbo discovers the "One Ring" that serves as the centerpiece of the action in the LOTR trilogy.

Wood told IGN that he will be journeying to New Zealand in February to begin work on The Hobbit. The first movie is expected to be released in December 2012, with the second movie opening the following December.